Inspirational dance performed by Physicians, among others, graced the stage of the Elks Lodge last week at RupaYoga
By admin
Published: Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
Doctors Engineers and Busy Housewives perform The Bhangra in Arcadia
Parveen Kaur, an ardent student of Rupa Dore who runs RupaYoga in Arcadia was recently asked to showcase the Punjabi dance – The Bhangra. Kaur was delighted to help ( Senior Citizens and people with health needs are topics dear to her heart. ) Enter friend Vicky Kumar who recently started to teach dance at the Pasadena Hindu Temple on Rosemead Blvd. She teaches Bhangra Aerobics as a form of exercise and for fun. She put together 3 performances for RupaYoga last week – 2 group dances and a duet. 
Performers included Vicky Kumar , Asha Saraf, Vanita Sarohia, Kumkum Agarwal, Neeta Agarwal, Usha Verma, Indu Garg and Parveen Kaur. Although not professional dancers but physicians, engineers and busy housewives who put aside the time for something that they love to do as well as enrich the community. 
The Bhangra is lively form of folk music and dance from the land of Punjab in Northern India. It celebrates the arrival of spring and quite rightly also celebrates the spring harvest in the fields. It is known for it drums and intense rhythm and speed. The dancers wear vibrant and colorful costumes. While men perform the energetic Bhangra, the women perform the Gidha which is less fierce and more elegant.
People traditionally performed Bhangra when celebrating the harvest. During Bhangra, people sing Punjabi Boliyaan lyrics, at least one person plays the the dhol drum, and other people may play the flute, dholak drum, or other musical instruments.
While Bhangra began as a part of harvest festival celebrations, it eventually became a part of such diverse occasions as weddings and New Year celebrations. Moreover, during the last thirty years, Bhangra has enjoyed a surge in popularity worldwide, both in traditional form and as a fusion with genres such as hip-hop, house, and reggae.As Bhangra continues to move into mainstream culture, an understanding of its history and tradition helps to appreciate it.
Many people believe that Bhangra originated in the 1400s, however, it may be even older. Primarily men performed Bhangra, while the ladies performed their own fierce, yet elegent, dance called Giddha. 
The men wore the turbin, lungi (long cloth wrapped around the waist), and kurta (traditional Indian shirt), while the women, when performing Giddha, wore the salvar kameez (a long colorful shirt accompanied with a baggy style bottom piece) accompanied by their bright colored duppattas (cloth wrapped around the neck).
Nowadays, because of Punjabi influence worldwide, people perform Bhangra in all parts of the world at occasions such as weddings, receptions, and parties. Bhangra has evolved from a dance and music only performed in the Punjab region, to a popular style of music and dance that people perform throughout South Asia and many parts of the world. 
Photographs by Terry Miller
3 Responses for “Inspirational dance performed by Physicians, among others, graced the stage of the Elks Lodge last week at RupaYoga”
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I wish I had been there.
That little girl is the cutest thing I have ever seen.
Good information. Many thanks for your Music Instrument information.